WWBWD(What Would Betty White Drive)?

This is either the year of Betty White's victory lap or the beginning of another phase of her career (never, ever count Betty out).

At age 88, and a big name in showbiz for nearly 70 years, the Golden Girls star is about to host Saturday Night Live....and now, the car she used to own (nicknamed "Parakeet") is on display on the AACA Museum in Hershey, Pennsylvania.

Betty owned "Parakeet", a gift from her husband Allen Ludden (who died in 1991) for 25 years. The 1977 Cadillac Seville has been in other hands for eight years, but still has only 18,000 miles.

More about the car, including an interview with Betty, at the New York Times Wheels blog.

NY Times Op-Ed: Unintended Acceleration Usually Foot On Wrong Pedal

Those of a certain age will remember that in the mid-1980s Audi had its own unintended acceleration problem...onto which gasoline and a whole boxful of matches was thrown by Morley Safer and the gang at CBS' 60 Minutes.

The story was that the Audi 5000 would roar off by itself, hurting and killing people.

Ultimately, it was shown that the drivers were stomping on the accelerator when they thought (or at least said) it was the brake. But Audi very nearly didn't survive the controversy.

Well, Professor Richard A. Schmidt was one of those who dug past the hype and found the truth 24 years ago...and in an op-ed piece in The New York Times on Wednesday (hat tip to The Truth About Cars for pointing it out), he says history may be repeating itself. Just substitute 2010 for 1985, Toyota for Audi, Prius for 5000.

Read it here.